‘Vigilante attack’ jail term cut

Published on 02/08/2012 00:00

A MOTHER jailed for her part in a fatal attack on a man wrongly accused of being a paedophile has had her sentence halved.

Judge Lord Carloway told the Court of Criminal Appeal that vigilante violence had to be discouraged, but the ten-year prison term imposed on Williamina Stewart, 37, was excessive.

Eighteen-year-old Paul Noble, also jailed for killing Gordon Morrice, had his sentence of detention cut from eight years to six.

Mr Morrice, 57, was hunted down after he asked to bounce on a children’s trampoline in Seaton, Aberdeen, then returned to burn the trampoline after he was sent away.

Before he was caught and attacked on a nearby playing field, leaflets bearing his picture had been handed out in the neighbourhood and sent to the local primary school.

But, a court heard later, there was no evidence to suggest that Mr Morrice was a paedophile.

Stewart, 37, of Blackburn, 
Aberdeen, halted a murder trial by pleading guilty to culpable homicide. She admitted kicking and punching Mr Morrice at Aulton playing fields on 24 June, 2010. Noble, also of Aberdeen – who was 15 at the time of the attack – also admitted culpable homicide.